Thomas Wakley (11 July 1795 – 16 May 1862), was an English surgeon. He became a demagogue and social reformer who campaigned against incompetence, privilege and nepotism. He was the founding editor of The Lancet, and a radical Member of Parliament (MP).
Thomas Wakley was born in Membury, Devon to a prosperous farmer and his wife. His father, Henry Wakley (1750–26 August 1842) inherited property, leased neighbouring land and became a large farmer ...
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Thomas Wakley (11 July 1795 – 16 May 1862), was an English surgeon. He became a demagogue and social reformer who campaigned against incompetence, privilege and nepotism. He was the founding editor of The Lancet, and a radical Member of Parliament (MP).
Thomas Wakley was born in Membury, Devon to a prosperous farmer and his wife. His father, Henry Wakley (1750–26 August 1842) inherited property, leased neighbouring land and became a large farmer by the standards of the day, and a government Commissioner on the Enclosure of Waste Land. He was described as a 'just but severe parent' and with his wife had eleven children, eight sons and three daughters. Thomas was the youngest son, and attended grammar schools at Chard and Taunton. In his early teens he was apprenticed to a Taunton apothecary. Young Wakley was a sportsman, and a boxer: he fought bare-fisted in public houses.
He then went to London, where he attended anatomy classes at St Thomas's Hospital, and enrolled in the United...
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